Dickinsonia costata, 45 mm on 25 cm slab. White Sea, Russia.

Yorgia waggoneri, a large, 9 cm diameter, complete dipleurozoan megafossil from the Yorgia bed at Zimnie Gory. family Dickinsoniidae, class Dipleurozoa, phylum Proarticulata. Penega Formation, Neoproterozoic Era, Ediacaran Period (dated at 555 Ma, Martin et al. 2000), East Archangelsk, White Sea, Russia.

Drawing of 9 cm Yorgia.

Kimberella quadrata Glaessner & Daily 1959, 45 mm individual on 27 cm slab. Ust-Pinega Formation. Onega Peninsula near the town of Severodvinsk. This fossil is known to vary in length between 3 mm and 10 cm. Kimberella has been interpreted as a mollusc-like bilaterian organism (Fedonkin & Waggoner 1997).

Radulichnus rasping marks thought to have been made by a mollusc on an algal mat. Field of view is approximately 5 cm left to right. Ust-Pinega Formation. Onega Peninsula near the town of Severodvinsk. Fan-like sets of scratch marks associated with and attributed to the grazing activity of Kimberella, are inferred to have been produced by its proboscis with two sharp teeth at its end (Ivantsov & Fedonkin 2001; Fedonkin, 2001).

Drawing of a 13 cm Charnia. Dzik (2002) considered these as sedentary ancestors of the ctenophores (but Djik 2003 was less sure).

This interesting fossil consists of conical assemblage of relatively rigid tooth-like structures (once pyritized) surrounded by a skirt with radial striations, 4 cm. Arkarua adami has some similarities, such as the central raised area and the surrounding skirt. The central area of elongate structures formed an upward projecting area, now impressed into the base of an overlying sandstone bed. Ust-Pinega Formation, Valdai Series. White Sea, Russia. Probably a sponge, showing similarities with the Cambrian Choia.

"skirted cone of teeth", 4 cm. Latex cast, clearly showing continuous apron (with radial striations) surrounding a conical arrangement of elongate rigid tooth-like elements. Perhaps a sponge (as inferred for Palaeophragmodictya).

Unidentified form, 18 mm across, approaching a rhomboid shape, with a number of structures branching towards the bottom of the image. The branching structures are reminiscent of the axial structure seen in Vendia rachiata (Ivantsov 2004). It also has similarities with Pseudorhizostomites howchini Sprigg 1949.

Parvancorina minchami Glaessner 1958, 7 mm. From White Sea, Russia. This is a representative of the Parvancorinamorpha, proposed as the first clade in the arthropod crown group, and is closely related to the Cambrian forms Primicaris and Skania ( Lin et al. 2006).

Eoporpita medusa Wade 1972. 9 cm diameter on 26 x 17 cm slab. Penega Formation, Neoproterozoic Era, Ediacaran Period, East Archangelsk, White Sea, Russia. Until recently, Eoporpita was thought to be a chondrophorine, but some researchers now consider it to have been a benthic polyp rather like a sea anemone. The structure of the fossil shows three concentric zones. It is preserved in positive relief on a biomat surface showing “elephant-skin” texture, at the base of the overlying sandstone.

A sketch of a White Sea sea floor based on the specimens shown in this gallery